WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force has selected Analytical Graphics Inc. (AGI) and A.I. Solutions to provide orbit-modeling and analysis software in support of the broader modernization of the U.S. Defense Department’s Joint Space Operations Center (Jspoc), the Pentagon announced Dec. 6.
AGI’s contract is valued at $6 million; A.I.’s is worth $3.8 million, the Pentagon said. Both companies will provide commercial, off-the-shelf software and associated support services for the Jspoc Mission System upgrade, Increment 2, which is expected to be completed in December 2015, the Pentagon said.
AGI of Exton, Pa., will provide what the company calls its Space Situational Awareness SSA software suite, which enables users to track the location and status of space objects. A.I. Solutions of Lanham, Md., will provide its FreeFlyer software for satellite mission analysis, design and operations.
The Jspoc, headquartered at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., is the nerve center of U.S. military space operations, responsible for space surveillance, collision avoidance and launch support. The Jspoc Mission System is an ongoing, three-phased effort to replace or upgrade the hardware and software currently used to these purposes, with an eye toward more precise and timely tracking, among other goals.
The modernization effort, initiated in 2009 to address an increasingly complicated and congested space environment, is expected to cost more than $500 million through 2017. The new system, which replaces the legacy Space Defense Operations Center, must integrate data from multiple sources to give U.S. military commanders a comprehensive picture of what is going on in space at any given time.
The Air Force anticipates using the A.I. Solutions and AGI software products across the entire Jspoc Mission System enterprise, the service said in documents justifying the planned contract awards. Both contracts were awarded in November.
“As intentional and unintentional threats rise, getting advanced SSA capabilities to the warfighter is critical,” AGI founder and Chief Executive Paul Graziani said in a prepared statement.
